Rennell Island

Rennell Island (160.29E
11.67S) is located about 120 miles (200 km) south of Guadalcanal. It is about 50 miles
(80 km) long and 15 miles (24 km) wide. The island is a
former atoll that was raised 400
feet (120 m) by tectonic activity. The original lagoon became a
large brackish lake, Lake Te'Nngano, and the island is surrounded by
high coral cliffs. There were no facilities to speak of here when war
broke out.

The Battle of Rennell Island

During the
last week of January 1943, the American
commanders in the South Pacific became increasingly concerned because
of intelligence suggesting a
buildup of Japanese forces in the
northern Solomons. The
Japanese were actually making preparations for the evacuation of
Guadalcanal, but the Americans assumed the buildup was for another
attempt to capture Henderson Field. Halsey decided to respond
to the perceived threat by sending a heavily supported convoy of four transports to bring in fresh
troops and supplies and relieve the last elements of 1 MarineDivision. Halsey hoped to draw out Yamamoto's forces for a
decisive confrontation, but Yamamoto was short on fuel and limited his
response to a night air attack.

The American naval forces, while formidable, were
scattered across several bases and
so were forced to sail in six separate forces. Three of these did not
see action. The others were the transport group itself; the Enterprise
task force under "Ted"
Sherman; and Task Force 18, a close support force of cruisers, destroyers, and escort carriers under Robert C. Giffen. Giffen was
new to the Pacific, having previously tangled with submarines during Operation TORCH
in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Halsey gave Giffen little tactical
direction, but he did emphasize that Giffen was to rendezvous with
Destroyer Squadron 21 off the southwest coast of Guadalcanal at 2100 on
30 January, then sweep up "The Slot" while the transports unloaded.

The escort carriers were not employed effectively.
Instead of being sent ahead to await the cruisers, they were kept with
the main force, where their slow speed and need to reverse course for
flight operations (the wind being out of the southeast) slowed the
advance. Giffen was anxious to make his rendezvous, and decided to drop
off the escort carriers and rush ahead to the rendezvous, where he
would have air cover from Guadalcanal. The escort carriers were to
maintain a combat air patrol over the cruisers for as long as they
could.

Radar detected
aircraft nearby late in the afternoon of 29 January 1943, but IFF was
erratic and it was uncertain whether these were Japanese snoopers or
friendly aircraft. Giffen insisted on maintaining strict radio silence,
which made it impossible to vector out fighters to intercept and
identify. The answer came shortly after dark, when 31 G4M "Betty" bombers loaded with torpedoes made a night attack.

Giffen had ordered his force into a formation
ideal for submarine defense but unsuitable for air defense. When his
radar detected aircraft 60 miles to the west, he maintained course and
formation and gave no further instructions. The Japanese strike
commander circled the task force to its south, so as not to be
silhouetted by the twilight, and split into two groups for an anvil
attack. The first wave scored no hits, and Giffen stubbornly continued
on course and even ceased zigzagging in order to make his rendezvous.
Japanese scout planes then dropped illuminating flares and another
attack wave came in from the east. A torpedo hit Louisville but failed to
explode. At 1945 another torpedo hit Chicago, the aft fireroom began
to flood, and steering control was lost. Shortly thereafter a second
torpedo hit and flooded another fireroom, depriving the ship of all
propulsion. Meanwhile Wichita was hit by another dud
torpedo.

At 2000, when the last glow of twilight had gone,
Giffen finally ordered a reversal of course at reduced speed to avoid
stirring up phosphorescent wakes. The Japanese aircraft now had
considerable difficulty finding the American ships, and even turned on
their running lights and fired tracers to try to entice the Americans
to give away their position with gun flashes. The aircraft finally ran
low on fuel and returned to base.

Shortly after midnight, Louisville took Chicago under tow at a speed of
about 4 knots. The escort carriers moved close to provide better air
cover, and Enterprise also
closed to provide fighter protection. At 1445 twelve "Bettys" were
spotted off New Georgia, and
they were picked up on Enterprise's
radar at 1554. Ten fighters were launched to join the ten fighters
already over Chicago, but
they missed their rendezvous. Six other fighters covering Giffen's main
force raced south to cover Enterprise.
The Japanese flight leader had sighted Chicago and changed course to
attack the cripple rather than run the gaunlet of Wildcats protecting Enterprise. The American fighters
destroyed three "Bettys", but nine evaded the Wildcats and raced in on Chicago at a speed of 300 knots (555 km/h).
Another seven were destroyed by antiaircraft
fire, but four torpedoes slammed into Chicago,
which was immediately abandoned and sank twenty minutes later.
Destroyer La Vallette was also hit and
badly damaged.

A second group of Japanese aircraft failed to find
the American force. The transports being covered by Giffen reached
Guadalcanal unmolested and the remaining American forces remained at
sea for another week as a counter to continuing Japanese naval activity
north of the Solomons.

Halsey had no use for Giffen after the debacle.
However, Nimitz was less
scathing in his judgement, and gave Giffen a second chance in the Aleutians.